Let’s Give Dems The Credit They Deserve For Causing The Current Crises + More

The Foundation

Editorial Exegesis

Halloween is just around the corner...

“Nancy Pelosi said Monday that ‘we haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done,’ and the Speaker is right. However, it appears that her party will get that credit on November 2, which is why so many Democrats are now jumping the liberal ship, at least symbolically, to save their seats. … Mississippi Democrat Gene Taylor … [said] that he won’t support Mrs. Pelosi for Speaker, another revelation considering his vote for her in 2009. ‘I’m very disappointed in how she’s veered to the left,’ Mr. Taylor said, as if Mrs. Pelosi’s ideological predispositions were ever hidden. Mr. Taylor joins a growing list of Democrats who voted for Mrs. Pelosi in 2009 but now profess to be shocked by her left turn. They include Idaho’s Walt Minnick, Pennsylvania’s Jason Altmire, Alabama’s Bobby Bright and Texas’s Chet Edwards, endangered incumbents all. Brett Carter, who is hoping to replace Tennessee Democrat Barton Gordon, has gone even further and requested that Mrs. Pelosi not even run again for the Speakership. ‘Voters in my district believe that you do not represent their values, and my opposition has little to offer apart from critiquing your leadership,’ Mr. Carter wrote in a September letter. … Over in the Senate, the prize for distancing himself from his party goes to West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, who ran the famous TV ad featuring him literally putting a bullet through the ‘cap and trade bill.’ Apparently that wasn’t politically far enough away from the Washington Democrats he hopes to join, so Mr. Manchin declared on Fox News Sunday that he would have voted against ObamaCare too. … Remind us again why these folks are running as Democrats?” –The Wall Street Journal

Upright

“Either this is just the end of a big election that rolls back a few important mistakes, but basically changes little besides who gets the good parking spaces and whose staffers get to cash in for a few years. Or this is the beginning a great reformation that will take America back for liberty. It’s up to the people. We are so close. In 50 years in politics, I have never seen as large a percentage of the public self-motivated for reformation. For those of us who believe we are a providential country, now is the chance for the public to demonstrate it.” –columnist Tony Blankley

“The Democrats are about to be beaten by something they do not in their heart of hearts think exists, a huge national majority. … That majority is amiable, sensible and believes in limited government. It is convinced that we face a catastrophic budget crisis and that measures must be taken against the spending and on behalf of growth. … The liberals show no hint that they realize this, but the American majority does. Now that majority has to deal with the mess we are in. As for the liberals, they have to explain why they are summarily leaving office.” –columnist R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

“Team Obama’s message in the closing weeks of the campaign was completely eclipsed Friday by a union official who openly boasted in a story reported by The Wall Street Journal: ‘We don’t like to brag,’ but ‘we’re the big dog’ when it comes to campaign funding. Big as in $87.5 million. Big as in the biggest spender of any outside group — all meant to protect the interests of unions, the new ‘privileged class.’ But wait a minute: Team O led us to believe that honor went to the vilified U.S. Chamber of Commerce and all of its alleged contributions from ‘foreign money’ sponsors.” –columnist Mark McKinnon

“All of these [European] countries — and many more — are going through painful retrenchments because they spent too much money, made too many promises and expected too little from their own citizens. The era of European austerity is upon us, because the Europeans — or at least those in charge — understand the mess they’ve made of their economies. This should present a real problem for Barack Obama and the vast (though shrinking) chorus of experts, editorialists and activists who support his agenda. In broad terms, all of the policies Obama and the Democrats have pushed are the sorts of policies the British, the French and other Europeans had for years, even decades.” –columnist Jonah Goldberg

The Demo-gogues

A call for conservatives to vote: “My name may not be on the ballot, but our agenda for moving forward is on the ballot, and I need everybody to turn out.” –Barack Obama ...